


Promise Forever and a Day

by deliciousshame



Series: Unofficial AoKuro Week 2018 [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, AoKuro Week, AoKuro Week 2018, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 12:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14618907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliciousshame/pseuds/deliciousshame
Summary: It's rare for Daiki to lose control of his senses, but it happens.Sequel tothe Sentinel/Guide AU.





	1. previously posted comment fic

Kuroko hears the growl before he see them, and he almost doesn’t recognise the panther because he never makes that kind of noise around him. It still startles him, so he turns to look, and yes, that is indeed Aomine-kun’s panther showing his teeth, hackles raised, at the coach’s own wolf, who apparently had to audacity to… stand too close to Tetsuya’s owl, probably. Tetsuya sighs. This is why he didn’t want Aomine-kun to come pick him up here. That’s just going to degenerate.

Sure enough, the wolf is getting annoyed at being provoked by some stranger intruding on his territory, and then his owl lands even closer to the wolf, her soft wing brushing against the wolf’s fur in what looks like an accident but Tetsuya knows is deliberate. The panther’s growls turns deafening and his claws pop out, the wolf’s own hackles start rising and he growls. His owl just flies off to perch higher like she always meant to do that. 

His teammates have no idea why Kuroko just stopped on his feet, staring at nothing, but they’ll catch on soon enough. They know, after all.

“C’mon, snap out of it, the quicker you cut this shit out the faster we can get out of there.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Aomine-kun’s attempt at calming the situation. Obvious to the startled whispers of Tetsuya’s teammates as the Generation of Miracles’ ace walks in their gym like he owns the place, he closes in and crouches to talk to the wolf. “Seriously, ignore that idiot, it’s just jealous. We’re just gonna get out of your hair, okay?”

The wolf stares at him and finally relents. Tetsuya isn’t surprised. Out of all the spirit animals present in this room, he’s by far the most mature. 

__________________________

Kuroko didn’t actually realise the coach was a sentinel until a few months after he joined, when he can feel his owl’s gaze focus on the newcomer, the majestic wolf entering the gym to sit in the corner of the room. His light blue eyes are following the players’ movements like he not only understood what was happening, he was actually judging them. 

Tetsuya has seen that look before. It’s the coach’s look when she watches them train. So that’s how she can tell everything about someone just by looking at them. Enhanced senses must really help with that. He turns toward her, the question probably visible in his eyes. 

The coach shrugs. “Oh, he’s mine. He doesn’t actually show up much because he knows he scares the little ones on the school grounds.”

The owl soundlessly perches closer, and if Tetsuya was less polite he’d roll his eyes. Of course she was insulted at the insinuation that she might be scared of something that doesn’t even fly. 

The wolf stares at her. Tetsuya’s owl stares back. 

The owl perches closer. The wolf sniffs her, advances, noses her. The owl lets it happen, which means they’re now best friends. 

That’s nice.

__________________________

“Excuse me, but where are you taking our Kuroko-kun? Practice isn’t over yet.”

Oh dear. The rest of the team flinches, but Aomine-kun doesn’t know the coach well enough to recognise how much danger that sunny smile and high voice can signify. “I bet Tetsu shows up at every practice like clockwork. He can afford to skip this one.”

The coach’s hand tightens around her whistle. The captain chokes on his water bottle. The wolf’s tail starts wiggling, and the panther tenses. Aomine-kun is, of course, somehow obvious to all of this. What are sentinel senses worth if you don’t use them at moments like this one? “I don’t know how you do it in Touou, but here in Seirin I expect all of my players to show up at all practices and to only go home after I tell them they can.”

Aomine-kun frowns. “Wow, that must suck. You can make an exception just this once, right? I came all the way here, it’s rude to make guests wait.”

Aaand the coach snaps. “Look, you punk, you’re not going to tell me how to run MY team in MY school, especially since I seem to remember we destroyed your team so they clearly don’t know how to do things right, so you’re just gonna either shut up and wait until we’re done, or I’m getting you thrown out of there. You won’t like hearing your teacher complain when they find out about it.”

Aomine-kun takes one step in the direction of the coach. “You bi-“

Tetsuya shuts him up with his hand. He doesn’t want his death on his conscience. Also, the wolf might be smaller than the panther, but if they start fighting they’ll tear each other apart and no one wants that. For once, his owl will sulk for weeks, and indifference is already her default mode. What if she gets even colder? “Coach, please excuse me for this, I swear I’ll do extra practice after and tomorrow, but we’re going to go now.” And he drags Aomine-kun out. 

He only frees his mouth after they’re off the school’s grounds. “You didn’t have to shut me up, we could have taken her, no big deal.” The panther growls in affirmation. 

“She would have eaten you alive. Do not underestimate the coach.”

Pride: wounded. “You don’t think I could have taken her!? Who do you think I am!”

“Not my boyfriend anymore if you don’t stop acting that way.”

Aomine-kun’s mouth visibly closes. After a few moments, he mumbles. “That’s not playing fair.”

Tetsuya snorts. “I think I’m worth a few aborted fights, thank you.”

Aomine-kun’s eyes soften as the tension leaves his body. “Well, if you say it like that, of course you are. Okay, I’m going to be generous and forgive you for interrupting me.” He gets closer and ruffles his hair gently, the hand coming to rest against the back of his neck after he’s done. It’s half affectionate boyfriend, half leaving his scent for the coach to smell tomorrow. 

Tetsuya knows it and he really doesn’t mind. If he lies a little bit against Aomine-kun while they walk in answer, it’s not like he’s going to complain. “You’re still paying for my shake.”

Aomine-kun’s fingers find his. Tetsuya squeezes back. “Sure, whatever.”


	2. new part

Daiki has no idea what went wrong with him today. It’s not his type of mistake at all. One second he was in the gym, attending practice for once, and the next there’s a glint of light on the hoop and that’s all he can think about. He just… can’t see anything but each flake of the fading red paint. He starts counting the brushstrokes before he can stop himself. Whoever patched the hoop did a bad job.

A familiar smell pierces through his focus, but it’s not enough to stop him from examining the myriads of shade the paint hides. 

Then there’s a hand on his shoulders, and a voice close to his ear. “Aomine-kun, come back.”

That’s… Tetsu, right? That’s strange. Daiki manages to tear himself from the hoop. “Tetsu? What are you doing at Touou?”

“Aomine-kun? How many fingers am I holding up?”

What. “Two.”

“What flowers did I pass by earlier today?”

Why does it matter? “Plums.” The sweet odor still lingers over him.

“Can you tell me how far away the closest bus is?”

Oh, now he’s getting it. “From the sound of it, about one thousand five hundred meters that way.”

“What tissue is this?”

“Some type of cotton blend. Probably got some polyester in it too. C’mon, I’m fine, you don’t have to keep testing me.”

But Tetsu shoves something indistinguishable in his general direction, so Daiki opens his mouth obediently and describes all the flavors of the stupid tasting cube. He knows they’re made so that you can’t tell what they are made from by appearance or texture, but they could really look more appetizing. 

“See? I’m in perfect control of all my senses. You can stop worrying now.” So he lost himself for a couple minutes. He’s a sentinel. It happens. Tetsu doesn’t have to fret this much. “You didn’t tell me you were dropping by. I’d have picked you up.” Practice or Tetsu: now that’s not a hard choice to make.

“I wasn’t nearby.”

Daiki frowns. “Why are you here then?”

It’s only now that Daiki realises that his teammates are lingering around them, barely making any effort to try and look like they’re not spying on them. “What’s their problem?”

“Dai-chan, you were gone for almost two hours!”

Daiki turns toward Satsuki. “Bullshit.”

“It’s true! Do you think I’d have called Tetsu-kun here for nothing? We were all worried! Are you okay?”

Daiki looks at Tetsu. How in the world did he miss how frazzled Tetsu is? It’s obvious in the tension over his brows, the tremors shaking his hands, the tremolo in his voice, the sharp smell of his sweat. “Fuck.”

“That sums it up, yes. We’re going to see a doctor.”

Oh, come on. It’s not that bad. “That’s really not necessary.”

“Dai-chan, what happened really isn’t like you! You have to mind your health.”

Daiki would argue with her, he really would, but he can tell Tetsu is shaken. That means he’s going to drag him to a clinic no matter what. Daiki doesn’t see the point in fighting him. Plus, he gets to legitimately miss practice. Well, it should already be over, but it’s the spirit of the thing. “Fine, whatever. Off to the sentinel clinic.”

Tetsu takes his hand. Daiki lets him. No one is going to say a thing about a guide staying in physical contact with a recently out of it sentinel. Also, Daiki suspects the touch is meant to reassure everyone, not just him.

His examination goes without a single problem. Daiki is a perfectly well-adjusted sentinel, which Tetsu would know if he had listened to a word he’d been saying instead of fretting. The doctor starts lecturing Tetsu about taking better care of him. Daiki cuts that short and pulls them out of there. First, he can take care of himself. Shit happens. There’s nothing they can do about it. Second, he’s not Tetsu’s responsibility. That old school mentality is bullshit. They’re both their own person, thank you.

Now, can he leverage what happened into convincing both Tetsu and his parents to let him stay over? Yeah, it would be hypocritical of him, but since where does he care? Plus, to be honest, it’s not like Tetsu is gonna just let him go home alone. He doesn’t need higher senses to hear him imagining Daiki phasing out in the middle of a street and getting hit by a car or something. 

“Wanna stay over? My parents will be okay with it.” His parents _love_ Tetsu. He thinks they would have him move in with them if they thought they could convince his own parents to hand him over. It’s not their fault that they’re both normal people and have never quite understood what their son was going through. The one thing they have understood is that Tetsu can make it better, so they’re always trying to steal him.

The couple months where they weren’t talking hadn’t been fun, to say the least.

Tetsu nods, so Daiki takes him along. 

“Tetsuya-kun! It’s so good to see you!”

Tetsu brushes off his mother’s usual enthusiasm with his innate politeness, which only makes her happier. He knows the exasperated glance she throws his way are her wondering where she went wrong with him. Whatever. It’s not his fault if he wasn’t raised right.

Dinner goes well. Daiki manfully ignores his mother’s pointed hints toward The Subject. He knows, okay? He knows he has to talk to Tetsu about it. He just doesn’t want to make a spectacle of himself if he crashes and burns, is that so much to ask? If she could just let them go to his room instead of interrupting all the time, maybe he could proceed. 

His mother finally gets him and shoves them toward his room, with a pointed look and a request to Tetsu to please make sure Daiki does some studying tonight. Just a little bit. Tetsu replies he’ll do what he can.

Heh. What a liar. Tetsu didn’t come over to _study_.

The door closes behind them, finally shutting his mother out. Good. Daiki is looking forward to some alone time with his boyfriend.

“So, what is it your mother so desperately wanted you to talk to me about?”

Shit. Damned guides who can read their sentinel like no other. And mothers who don’t know the meaning of the word subtlety. 

Better get it over it then. It really is important. “I… got a letter the other day.”

Tetsu nods in interest.

Daiki squirms. “I, well, Kagami know people over there, and my parents have been working with Touou’s coach, and, huh, I got scouted. By a college. Overseas.”

Daiki’s sure even a normal person would have caught the way Tetsu froze. Whatever he was expecting, this wasn’t it. “Congratulations.”

“I haven’t said yes yet, but. I want to. I can’t let Kagami get all the glory.” That jerk.

Tetsu tries to smile at him. It’s not his best attempt. “I’ll look forward to seeing you succeed in the collegial league.”

“I got a full ride too.”

“Good for you. I suppose it would be expensive without it.”

Well, it’s now or never. “It’d extend to you, if you want to.”

“…What.”

“They’d pay for you to come along. You don’t separate a sentinel from their guide, right? No point in risking your pricey foreign acquisition when you can raise the chances he’ll do just fine. If you want to, they’ll get you a place in my college. We could live together there.”

“Are you serious? Are you playing with me, Aomine-kun?”

Please let him say yes. “Yeah and no. Not that you have to say yes. You really don’t.” He really, really wishes Tetsu would say yes. It’s been two years by now, but the time they weren’t together still feels like hell to him. He barely remembers how he handled it.

He might have to, if Tetsu says no. Daiki won’t force him, no matter what happens. It’s a lot to ask of him, moving to another country where neither of them speaks the language nor know anyone beside Kagami. He might have finally found Tetsu’s breaking point. 

“Do you want me to?”

What a stupid question. Tetsu has to know better than that by now. Literally everyone knows better than that. Random players from other schools have accosted him to ask him how he can stand playing against his own guide. Then they laughed at him and/or commiserated when all he could give them was a pained face. 

“Duh, yes. Of course I want you to come with me. That’s not the point. Do you want to come with me? You know my parents are crazy about you. They’d be overjoyed. We could just dump all the planning on them and be done with it. They’d convince your parents, too. Anything not to let a living disaster like me represent Japan to the rest of the world without supervision, or so they said. But, you know, if you don’t want to, that’s your right.”

He can’t honestly say he wouldn’t mind, or that he should really think about it, or that the scholarship wouldn’t cover return tickets for, like, breaks and holidays. He can’t. Telling him he doesn’t have to come is the best he can do without betraying himself. 

“I’ll come.”

What. “You’ll come.”

“Yes.”

What. “Are you sure.”

Tetsu sighs. “Why do you always look so surprised every time I tell you I want to be with you?”

“Because you don’t have to.” It’s not like guides need their sentinel to live comfortably. It’s the reverse that’s true. Tetsu could fuck off at any time, and nothing would change for him. 

Tetsu grabs his head, forcing their gaze to lock. “Listen to me, idiot. I’m not going with you because I’m your guide and I have to. I’m going with you because I love you, and if someone feels like paying me to stay with you, there is no way I’m not going to say yes.”

Oh. Oh.

Tetsu’s right. He’s an idiot. “I love you too.” 

“I’m not the stupid one here, so I know that.”

Like he’s not blushing too.

Daiki has no idea what he’s done to deserve someone like Tetsu, but he’s not gonna argue with a good thing when he sees it. Or, more exactly, have it. 

 

_**Bonus** _

The panther is not having it.

“C’mon, step off or disappear, but you can’t stay in the plane.”

It shoves its claws deeper into the plane’s cheap carpet. For a moment, all Daiki can hear is the noise of fabric tearing.

He is going to throttle it. Somehow.

Tetsu’s owl, of course, is not giving him any grief about the situation. Not that it’s helping either. It would be too easy. His fucking panther would throw himself in freezing water if it thought it could get the bird to look at him, so it decided not to show up at all. According to Tetsu, it considers the concept of planes to be an affront to all avian creatures.

It's not like Daiki can't understand where it's coming from. Everything smells different, wrong. Shit, even the wind doesn't make the same sounds it does at home. Honestly, each and every one of his sentinel senses is telling him he's too far away and that he needs to go back to his territory. 

Daiki never let his sentinel senses stop him from doing something he wants to do. He's not going to start now. 

“I know this is strange and unfamiliar, but we really need to leave before the airport employees start complaining. Please get off the plane?”

The panther finally deigns to put its first paw on the passenger way. Of fucking course that treasonous bastard ignored him and listened to Tetsu. Of fucking course it did.

“Thank you.”

The panther acknowledges him with all the gravity of a world leader signing a peace treaty and starts prowling in slow circles around them, obviously wary of its new surroundings.

Whatever. It'd better get used to it. This is their new home now. America has no idea what’s coming for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As far as I can tell, no one is hosting AoKuro Week this year, but I'm still going to try and write a fic for each day from today to the 15. As usual, no promise.


End file.
